Utah Jazz: Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews to play vs. Suns; Andrei Kirilenko will not

PHOENIX — Starting point guard Deron Williams and starting shooting guard Wesley Matthews will play when the Jazz face Phoenix here tonight, but starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko will not.

Kirilenko re-strained his left calf in the third quarter of the Jazz's home win over Minnesota on Wednesday night, and was back to wearing a walking boot at today's morning shootaround.

Backup C.J. Miles is expected to start tonight in place of Kirilenko, whose status for Saturday night's home game against New Orleans is uncertain.

Williams will play despite a bruised left shoulder, sprained left ankle, sore right wrist and a back that was bruised when he got kneed in the Timberwolves game.

What hurts most, Williams said, "depends on the day."

"My ankle feels good, though," he said.

An MRI exam performed on his shoulder Thursday showed nothing more than bruising.

"I knew there wasn't anything wrong structurally," Williams said. "It just hurts."

He hasn't given consideration to taking any time off, though, mostly because of playoff-seeding implications of the Jazz's final 14 games this season.

"That's pretty much it," Williams said. "Everything's so close right now. Oklahoma City's right on us, with the tie-breaker over us. We have a chance to own the tie-breaker over Phoenix today, so it's pretty much a no-brainer for me tonight."

Matthews will play despite mildly spraining his left medial collateral knee ligament in Wednesday's game, and said he feels "blessed" he wasn't more seriously injured.

"It actually felt better (this morning), and keeps feeling better every day," said Matthews, who hasn't missed a game this season.

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com